New Voices 2018: The Tall Man

The Tall Man is going to be one of the most talked about books of 2018.

It’s published today and believe me, this is a book you need to read. Never before has a book frustrated me so much but yet when I come to the end do I think it is absolutely brilliant…

Sinister and chilling, this is the story of the Banner family who are plagued by the urban myth of the Tall Man; he lingers in the shadows; he takes daughters. The Tall Man can either choose to make you special or he can take you away and kill you.

This is a unique and unsettling thriller that keeps you guessing throughout. The ending blew me away.

Sadie Banner has been haunted by the Tall Man since she was a child. A few days after Sadie gives birth to her daughter Amber she abandons her baby and husband as she is petrified the Tall Man will take Amber. Sixteen years later and believing Amber is safe, Sadie returns. However I could not understand why Miles, her husband happily accepts Sadie back into the family after such a sudden and long absence.

The novel is mainly set in 2016 and 2018. Two years after her mother’s return Amber has just been acquitted of murder and is having a ‘fly on the wall’ documentary made about her. But as the reader, we do not know who Amber has killed or why.

I had so many questions when reading The Tall Man. I genuinely thought that many of my questions would be left unanswered. But what I loved about this novel is that the author Phoebe Locke left no loose strands to the story. This is such a well thought-out constructed story; it is like an unsettling jigsaw that as a reader, I needed to slowly piece together but I was only given the jigsaw pieces right at the end.

The story mainly jumps between 2016 and 2018 and initially I did find this quite confusing. I also found the amount of characters confusing and I struggled at times to work out who was who. All the main characters were guarded which if I’m honest I found frustrating as I struggled to empathise with them. Apart from Miles and Greta (who is making Amber’s documentary), I don’t actually think I liked any of the main characters which as a reader unsettled me. However having now reached the end of the novel, I think this was Locke’s intention; it added to the tension to the story and helped create such a brilliant climax.

Another thing I loved about The Tall Man is that it really questions us as a society and our wanton need to consume true crime as entertainment.

Thank you Phoebe Lock for giving us The Tall Man – this is such a unique psychological thriller that I urge everyone to read. It is brilliant. Thank you also to Headline Publishing for inviting me to the New Voices book tour, giving me the fantastic opportunity to grab a copy to read and review and meet Phoebe.

The Tall Man is available to buy now from Amazon and other book stores, so if you want a chilling, tense read, go and buy a copy now.